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Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe 1973 "V8 Interceptor"
'' "How the hell did you get all this together?"'' "It just happened Max, you know - A piece from here and a piece from there." '' The '''V8 Interceptor', also known as a Pursuit Special, is driven by Max Rockatansky at the end of Mad Max and for the first half of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. It is based on a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe, which was modified to become a police interceptor by the Main Force Patrol. The vehicle also makes an appearance in Mad Max: Fury Road and is later modified into an off-road bare metal version called the Razor Cola. Note: Plot Spoilers Below ''Mad Max'' "She's the last of the V8s!" ''- MFP Mechanic. The V8 Interceptor is first seen in the MFP vehicle garage. The mechanic, Barry, and Goose use the interceptor to attempt to convince Max to remain on the force. Unlike most other MFP vehicles which are yellow and have roof-mounted police lights, the Interceptor is entirely black, save for a few gold MFP decals. According to Barry, the Interceptor has a dual overhead cam engine, and thanks to the blower, makes 600 horsepower at the wheels. After Max's family is killed by Toecutter 's gang, Max retrieves the Interceptor and uses it to track down and eliminate members of Toecutter's gang and Toecutter himself, as well as Johnny the Boy. Max then drives off into the wasteland. V8 interceptor.jpg V8 int 4.jpg V8 int 2.jpg V8 int 1.jpg ''Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior Two years after the events of Mad Max, Max is still using the V8 Interceptor as his primary vehicle, which also likely serves as his home. The vehicle had, by this time, been modified (presumably by Max) to make it more suitable for traveling the wastelands, having larger fuel tanks installed in the rear, as well as at least one 'booby trap' to prevent the vehicle's fuel from being stolen. The V8 Interceptor is seen in the very beginning of the film, when Wez and other marauders are pursuing Max. Max uses the car's supercharger sparingly, so as to conserve fuel. At the opportune moment, he activates it, ramming a vehicle in front of him, while also destroying the Interceptor's aerodynamic front shroud. Max later learns of the refinery from the gyrocopter pilot and, in need of fuel, travels toward it. He covers the Interceptor with a camouflage cover while observing the refinery survivors attempting to flee from Humungus ' men who surround the refinery. When confronting the survivors in the refinery, Max is taken captive and the Interceptor is towed into the compound, where the paraplegic mechanic manages to deactivate the explosive trap. In order to get the Interceptor back, Max leaves to retrieve a vehicle capable of pulling the survivors' tanker trailer. After successfully doing so, Max refills the car's fuel tanks and sets out. However, Humungus' men follow him, and with the aid of their truck's nitrous oxide system, manage to catch up with the interceptor and smash a window, causing the Interceptor to crash. When the Toadie attempts to open the Interceptor's fuel tanks, the booby trap is activated, causing a massive explosion. Mad Max: Fury Road This Interceptor is captured by the War Boys and heavily modified to handle the rugged terrain. The body work has been bashed back into shape after being rolled, with the bodykit being remade in steel to match the exterior bodywork that is stripped off to bare metal, another supercharger is stacked with a skull on top of it. Rear suspension is lifted, rear fender wells are enlarged to accommodate the large 37" off-road tyres. The back of the car now gives space to a weapon and a tank. The interior is also stripped of it's original falcon dash and replaced with a basic sheet metal instrument panel. This vehicle is dubbed "Razor Cola" and is seen driven most notably by Slit. "Razor Cola" meets its demise between The War Rig and The People Eater's Limousine in a fiery explosion. Development of the Vehicle(s) Used in the Films Mad Max The Last of the V8 Interceptors also known as a "Pursuit Special" (although it is only briefly called by this name by the radio voice of the female dispatcher in the film) is the car built to convince Max to stay on the force but instead is used to carry out vengeance. Original concept In 1976, film makers Bryon Kennedy and George Miller began pre-production on Mad Max.http://madmaxmovies.com/mad-max-interceptor/index.html Byron Kennedy and George Miller had budgeted $350,000 for their film, including a mere $20,000 for props and vehicles, and a paltry $5000 to keep those vehicles on the road. The climax of the film was to feature a super-hot pursuit car, known at this point only as the Pursuit Special. A year later, funding in hand, work commenced on the cars. The initial designs for the feature car were highly stylised and futuristic, with spoilers to the roof and boot, flares on the wheel arches, and a modified front end. The original design was based on a modified Ford Mustang, and for a brief moment that is what Max was going to drive.http://www.streetmachine.com.au/features/1505/the-real-story-of-the-mad-max-xb-gt/ A change in plans Murray Smith was a mechanic hired on as part of the film crew, and one of his tasks was to put together the Interceptor. His opinion on using a foreign Mustang was that it would be difficult to find parts for that car and it had to be functional enough to perform high speed stunts. It was almost certain that repairs would be required and the foreign Mustang would be too much for this low-budget production so it was decided that Australian Fords would be used instead. It was the height of the van craze in Australia and the production crew spotted Monza front ends for Holdens which could be modified to fit the Ford Falcon and achieve the look they were aiming for. The purchase of vehicles Next stop was a car auction in Frankston, Vic. Three Australian exclusive cars were purchased for less than $20,000 — two ex-Victorian police Ford Falcon V8 XB sedans and a white 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe that’d been repossessed. The sedans became Big Boppa and Max’s Yellow Interceptor, while the GT would become the Last of the V8 Interceptors. The coupe was to get a Monza front but it turned out that similar fronts were being built to suit Fords by Peter Arcadipane, then still a designer working for Ford. The original Concorde front end concept was designed for a high-performance aerodynamic Falcon GT coupe much like the long-nose Plymouth Superbird for NASCAR. Unfortunately, Peter was not allowed to create a Concorde end for a GT. In secrecy, however he he built a concept Panel Van instead that had a very positive response from the Ford management. The van was driven by Peter himselfhttp://www.streetmachine.com.au/features/1505/plastic-surgeon-%E2%80%93-peter-arcadipane/ and displayed at the 1977 Melbourne Motor show with a custom front end strongly influenced by the slightly earlier HPF Firenza. The front end was later marketed as the "Concorde" style and it caught Ray Beckerley’s eye. Ray worked at Graf-X International and had been contracted to customise cars and bikes for the film. Customization Murray Smith along with Peter Arcadipane, Ray Beckerley, and various others, proceeded to modify the car to what was needed for the film. First the blower was fitted, simply mounted on top of the air cleaner. Eight individual exhaust side pipes were added. The fibreglass nose was fitted in Peter Arcadipane’s workshop while the spoilers were the work of Errol Platt at Purvis Fibreglass Products. The spoilers were actually ripped off Bob Jane’s Monaro Sports Sedan. It didn’t take a lot to make them fit, just a little bit of grinding, some Sikaflex and bog. Ray also decided to include a roof spoiler after looking at the car from the side. The design was visually appealing, but aerodynamically useless. The flares were done by Rod Smythe and his brother. The paint scheme was described as "Black on Black" by the movie’s art director, Jon Dowding. Ray interpreted it as gloss and matt black similar to the factory XB GT design, differing only in swooping up from the rear wheel arch to follow the line of the rear spoiler. Pursuit Special original concept.jpg|Pursuit Special original concept based on a Ford Falcon XB GT Peter Arcadipane 1977 Panel Van Concept.jpg|Peter Arcadipane's 1977 Panel Van Concept car that inspired the looks of the V8 Interceptor Ford Falcon XB GT 1973.jpg|Ford Falcon XB GT used in Mad Max, prior to modifications 3.jpg|Pursuit Special in the making. 5.jpg|Finished Pursuit Special on set. ''Post Mad Max'' Following the production of Mad Max, the car was no longer needed, and was put up for sale for merely $7500. There were no takers, so the car was given to mechanic Murray Smith as settlement for unpaid work. With the success the film achieved on release, the producers decided to buy the car back, for a sequel. Modified once more to make it suitable for use as a standard road car by removing the blower and side pipes It was then toured around Melbourne to shopping centers, car shows and so on as part of the promotion done for the film. ''Mad Max 2'' After being re-acquired by Kennedy Miller for the second film, the rear wheels, supercharger and pipes were changed.http://www.madmaxmovies.com/mad-max-interceptor/interceptor-history-part-2.html The car was further modified to fit the setting of the new film, with large petrol tanks fitted in the back, and its general appearance given a more used and stressed look. The front end was also modified by removing the bottom section to give more clearance for the outback locations it was required to be driven in. The front of the car was in fact broken off early in the film during a chase scene. As well as modifying the original car, a duplicate car was also put together for Mad Max 2. It was a much rougher Fairmont automatic, used for most of the wide shots and stunt work while the original car was used for all the close ups and interior shots. The duplicate was rolled several times for its roll sequence until the right shot was caught on tape (stress marks are visible on the car in the movie). The duplicate was later blown up and its remains were salvaged by a local Broken Hill resident. Pursuit Special build.jpg|Interceptor build for Mad Max 2 10.jpg|Work in progress 80.jpg|The "Hero Car" and "Stunt Double" at the same spot. 82.png|Dupliate Interceptor about to be rolled. 77.jpg|The Last V8 with front end intact ''Post Mad Max 2'' After destroying the duplicate car, the remaining original car was set be scrapped. Although it was supposed to meet its demise, the new 'owner' was reluctant to destroy this important car. Instead it was put up for sale yet again, but failed to be sold. It was then passed onto a colleague, Ray Evans from Adelaide. The car then sat outside of Ray Evans' scrap yard for more than three years and was the subject of much interest. When a great fan of this film series, Bob Fursenko spotted the car, he realized he had to have it, and after negotiations, Bob became the Falcon's new owner.Bob recalled the car was not in too bad a condition. The front end was smashed, as seen in the film, but generally the car was sound.http://www.madmaxmovies.com/mad-max-interceptor/interceptor-history-part-3.html Mad-max-interceptor-at-scrap-yard-front.jpg|V8 Interceptor in scrap yard Mad-max-interceptor-at-scrap-yard-rear.jpg|V8 Interceptor in scrap yard, back Mad-max-interceptor-at-scrap-yard-blower-setup.jpg|V8 Interceptor scrap yard blower setup Restoration The car went to Franklin Side Crash Restorers where Tony and Mario Romero went to work on it. A number of months and $25k AUD later the car was complete. It was restored to its original former glory, but retaining the tanks fitted in the sequel. Eventually Bob located Murray Smith and managed to get a number of photos of the car with its registration number still fitted at the Kennedy Miller studios, and obtained confirmation that this was in fact the original car which Murray had built. Bob also obtained photos and information from Ray Evans confirming the car's authenticity. mad-max-interceptor-fursenko-exhibition-buildings-display.jpg|Restored Interceptor at Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne mad-max-interceptor-fursenko-shopping-centre-display-2.jpg|Bob Fursenko's restored Interceptor at Exhibition Buildings, Melborurne mad-max-interceptor-fursenko-shopping-centre-display-1.jpg|Exhibition Building, Melbourne Cars of the Stars Motor Museum By the early 1990s Mad Max hysteria had passed and the car was on display in the Birdwood Motor Museum in Adelaide. Bob decided he’d done everything he wanted with the car and put it up for sale. Yet again there were no takers. Finally car collector Peter Nelson heard of its whereabouts. He runs the Cars Of The Stars Motor Museum in the UK, and has an extensive collection of movie cars. He’d long had the Interceptor high on his wish-list and at a car rally in Germany in 1992 he heard it was available. After contacting Bob and verifying that the car was the real deal, he shipped it to the UK. To Peter, the Interceptor is much more than just another film car. “This car was the most important car, I felt, to a country. Some people would say Mad Max is probably one of the most important Australian films.” “I like the styling. It suits the film perfectly, and it made a great presence within the film.” It used to reside in Peter’s museum, and people traveled from around the world to see it. It was sold to Miami Auto Museum in Florida, USA. in 2011http://www.streetmachine.com.au/features/1505/the-real-story-of-the-mad-max-xb-gt/ mad-max-interceptor-at-birdwood-motor-museum.jpg|On display at Birdwood Motor Museum, before being sold to Cars of the Stars Museum mad-max-interceptor-delivered-to-cars-of-the-stars.jpg|BoB delivered to Cars of the Stars Motor Museum mad-max-interceptor-delivered-to-cars-of-the-stars-rear.jpg|Delivered to Cars of the Stars, rear mad-max-interceptor-inside-cars-of-the-stars.jpg|At Cars of the Stars Museum mad-max-interceptor-interior.jpg|Interior, Cars of the Stars Museum, UK ''Miami Auto Museum'' Currently the original V8 Interceptor resides at the Miami Auto Museum, Florida.http://www.dezercollection.com/ Unfortunately the car is in poor condition. Fury Road Fury Road's Interceptor is a variation on the original Black On Black and is later modified into the Bare metal Interceptor. It was to be in the opening scene to give an instant link back to the original movies, but it was not supposed to be the same car, so it was given some deliberate but subtle changes, many to give the car a much more weathered and beaten appearance. ''The build'' The construction of the Fury Road Interceptor began in February 2003. Scott Smith received a call to supply parts for a set of new Interceptors. The parts consisted of fiberglass fronts, blower assembles and everything else needed for that version of Fury Road. The amount of parts would be enough for 4 Interceptors. With those parts the 2003 Interceptor was built and was taken to Namibia. It was brought back and put in storage until it was needed again in 2009. The same car resurfaced in 2009 as the promotional Interceptor with a trimmed bumper and mesh style headlight covers. ''Black Interceptor'' 2 black Interceptors were built for Fury Road, both identical in every aspect. Both cars were originally 302 XB Fairmonts, both reasonably rough cars as they were getting more desirable by 2009 and knowing the vehicles needed to look run down there was no need for pristine examples, nor was a genuine GT needed, they just had to be complete and drive-able. Both vehicles were fitted up with special effects hardware to enable them to be rolled on command in case both cars were needed to film the roll of scene, thankfully the first take was successful and the 2nd car was saved from destruction. Cameron Manewell was hired in 2009 as a mechanic specifically to construct the Interceptors. Both vehicles were stripped down to the bare essentials removing most of the interior, glass and external stainless trim. Body kit were supplied by well known Mad Max fan Scott Smith. Rims were purchased from the same manufacture who had made them for the original Mad Max 1 Interceptor. Again the Supercharger was a fake mounted over the top of the air clean, but this time it was driven directly from the engine and not from an electric motor. So it was no switchable (due to no provision for that to be seen in the movie), but being driven directly from the engine, it did rev at the same speed as the engine and with the belt pulled nice and tight it gave a nice authentic blower whine. Knowing the vehicle was to be rolled, all 8 zoomie exhaust pipes were functional. There was a 3rd Black Interceptor also constructed as a none-running "roll over rig", the base vehicle was an extremely rusty 6 cylinder shell but it was sufficient to mock up externally as a full Interceptor, complete with fake engine and fiberglass 9" housing covering the stock 6 cyl diff. ''Bare metal Interceptor '' - "Razor Cola" The "re-birthed" Interceptor, known as Razor Cola, was also constructed by Cameron Manewell, with the steel body kit being the handy work of skilled metal fabricators / panel beaters Mark Natoli and Paul Nolan. Again 2 identical vehicles were built. Both base cars were supplied by Cameron, one being an XB the other an XC (that was retro fitted with XB panels and other minor mods). One of the base vehicles was already bare metal due to being used as a promotional vehicle for Cameron's automotive sand blasting business. (images can be found on one of the street fords forum a few years ago). The double stacked superchargers were again mounted above the air cleaner, but were both hooked up to the engine and ran at full engine speed. The rear suspension was raised to give an exaggerated racked appearance, the front was also lifted. Fr int 2.jpg|2010 promotional Interceptor IMG_2062.jpg|2012 Fury Road Interceptor IMG_78389028525533.jpeg|The Silver Interceptor build Fury road interceptor b.png|The Interceptor sighted during filming in 2012. Videos References External links * Mad Max Movies – The most comprehensive Mad Max site online. Includes extensive information on the vehicles used in all three movies. * Mad Max Replica Stats – Displays a comprehensive list of all known Mad Max Replicas in the world. * MadMaxCar.com – An extensive look into a Mad Max Pursuit Special replica project that spanned nearly 5 years. * Mad Max Online – Home to the original Mad Max movie, maintained by members of the cast and crew. * Cars of the Stars - Home of the original Pursuit Special * Mad Max Photo Archive - Discussion of the two types of Pursuit Specials seen in "Mad Max," including a script excerpt. * Mad Max Renegade Interceptor - A slideshow of the replica used in the fan-made short-film Mad Max: Renegade. * http://www.madmaxmovies.com/mad-max-interceptor/index.html * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oawspa5EVzs Category:Vehicles Category:Mad Max Category:Mad Max 2